KINGMAN MAYOR RECALLS 9-11 AT THE PENTAGON

“It was a very tough day,” Anderson said of September 11, 2016, the 15th anniversary of the deadliest terrorist attack in U.S. History.

While many Americans have strong feelings and reflections of the terrorist attacks, Anderson’s experience was up close and personal. He was there.

Anderson was working as a budget analyst at the Pentagon when a terrorist directed airplane slammed into the building in Washington D.C. He said he was acquainted with 32 of the 180 people who were fatally injured that day.

The loss remains painful for Anderson, but at the same time, he said he focuses on the valor and courage he witnessed on scene.

“The one thing that was the most powerful memory for me, and it was a positive memory at the end, was after we evacuated the building and we were out watching and the fuel tanks were exploding, the thousands of uniformed men and women around me did not hesitate racing towards the explosion,” Anderson recalled. “These are the people that are out there willing to give their lives and reaction without question. And the days that followed and the way the nation came together, you hate for a disaster like the twin towers, and like the pentagon to happen, but the nation really did pull together.”